Zipongo Hires Vice President of Data Science to Advance Eating Well Made Simple Platform

SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zipongo, Eating Well Made Simple, has announced the appointment of Viet Nguyen as the company's first Vice President of Data Science. Nguyen most recently served as the senior director of data engineering and advanced analytics for apparel retailer Gap, Inc.

The appointment reflects Zipongo's commitment to developing a new approach to eating well that is backed by the best nutritional science, behavioral science, data science and analytics. Nguyen will oversee and refine Zipongo's algorithms to help nudge users gradually towards better food choices. Zipongo offers recipe, food shopping and restaurant recommendations that are personalized to each user's food preferences, health status, health goals and genetic makeup.

Nguyen spent more than eight years at Gap, Inc., during which time he grew the analytics team from four to 30 FTEs and 50 contractors. His primary expertise is in scaling analytics operations to meet growing customer needs. At Gap, Inc., he was responsible for both inventory management and customer data science.  Prior to his tenure at Gap, Inc., he spent six years developing data-centric applications at Oracle.

"Food poses an exciting challenge for data science — we must both keep consumers engaged, and also gradually help them advance on a path to better health," Nguyen said. "Zipongo is the only healthy eating technology application I have seen that really 'gets it.' The focus is on meeting users where they are and working with them to change unhealthy behaviors in a personalized approach that really works."

Nguyen's connection to Zipongo dates back eight years, when he first worked with Zipongo CEO and Founder Jason Langheier, MD, MPH to create a nutritional database that would eventually become the backbone of the current technology platform.

"We are thrilled to welcome Viet, an early contributor to our Food Terminology Index," said Dr. Langheier. "Given his experience with both enterprise analytics at Oracle and leading a large consumer-oriented data science organization at Gap, Inc., Viet will skillfully continue to build out our full-stack data science team at an important inflection point for Zipongo."

Dr. Langheier continued, "Data Science is integral to the R&D process at Zipongo, driving product science that optimizes the user experience, analytics and actuarial sciences for health plan and employer customers, as well as ontology development behind our Food Terminology Index, and predictive modeling that drives our personalized nutrition recommendations that sync with national guidelines."

Zipongo offers recipe, food shopping and restaurant recommendations that are personalized to each user's food preferences, health status, health goals and genetic makeup. Zipongo's expanding food benefits offerings include recipe recommendations, customized grocery lists, grocery delivery, restaurant ordering support and digital nutrition coaching.

Zipongo envisions a future where employers deploy food as medicine to improve the overall health of the workforce and help rein in health costs. Zipongo's current and future products are backed by the latest data science to track and report success metrics to customers.

About Zipongo 
Zipongo is Eating Well Made Simple.  Zipongo's platform enables digital nutrition coaching for large employers, health plans and health systems, and provides food utility tools to families that make it easier to consistently select and buy healthy food people love.  Zipongo provides trusted food selection and buying environments for cooking and eating prepared meals that meet the needs of diverse groups of people, with tools ranging from meal planning, recipes, grocery rewards and online grocery ordering, to menu coaching and mobile meal ordering. Zipongo's HIPAA secure software-as-a-service platform is built to meet people where they are—at home, at work, or on the go, and deliver robust, anonymized population analytics back to enterprises. Learn more at www.zipongo.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Todd Stein
Amendola Communications for Zipongo
916.346.4213
[email protected]

SOURCE Zipongo

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https://www.zipongo.com